CHAMPAGNE FROM PETROLEUM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2048, 28 August 1868, Page 3

CHAMPAGNE FROM PETROLEUM.

(Erom the British MedicaZ Journal.) . It j's no longer a secret^ot the chemist's laboratory that clear golden, syrups can be made from starch and sulphuric acid; | that delicious wines and brandies qan be, made; from beetroot; that a barrel of peanuts can be transformed into^ excellent coffee; that lard can absorb an ejiormbus quantity of water in certain^ conditions'; that, in fact,: there seems no limit to tKe adulterations that an intelligent and dishonest chemist can practise upon his fel-low-men. All these marvels of chemical science have in these latter days become degraded into mere' tricks of trade, and their chief beauty is in their capacity to enable unscrupuloug. dealers to lighten the pockets and desteoy the stomachs of the confiding and consuming public, Concerning the article of champagne, a writer in the (Jhicinnati Journal of Commerce tells, us that it is made from a thousand differeujk, substances, ; even from, refined .petroleum-.Yes, frorii^ the fiery benzole a sparklirig, bubbling, foaming champagne' ' can be produced, which will delighjb the 7 eye, tickle the palate, gladden the.\heart. momentarily, but fyuicjsfen our. paces toward the g^yeyard. This a new use for petroleum, which - those who have been experimenting with it,as.an agency for generating steam have little dreamed of. Who can say that./thQjPennsylvania oil territory, now considered, mostly1 worthless, may not somie day be; re-7 generated into .the great champagne-pro- j ducirig country of the worfbT T~ \